Clondalkin U 12s (4)- Del la Sal Palmerston (3)

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Clondalkin under 12s extended their 2009 unbeaten run by beating the well drilled and fast backs of the Dublin Mountains team. Missing their some of the talisman from the previous suttonian victory Adam(N), Adam and Arron, three of the starting pack from the previous game, clon management and support where hoping for just a good showing.

But as is now fast becoming a tradition Clon upset the form book, Jake & Alec slotted in seamlessly in the hard working pack. The call from before the game was for fully contested scrums, i.e. meter and a half, but Josh Duffy again proved that his hooking skills are second to none with wining of 75% of the DLSP ball allowing for Thomas Duffy the platform to get the impressive back line of Padriag,Ankers, Stephen Bracken, and Dublin Gaa U13s star whealo running at pace.

Of one such turnover the Ball passed through 5 sets of hands, to score ,only for the referee for the day, Mick O Brien to a judge a forward pass, no hometown Ref here.

One fine individual piece of skill was from a reliving kick form Stephen bracken form his own try line which caught the breeze and was followed up by Whelo and Padraic resulting in a wonderful try for Whelo (Arron)

DLSP where by no means out of it, and had some fantastic ball carriers, who where met by the man by Clondalkin, as they fought to break over the gainline. 2-1 at the turn and DLSP had the breeze and the hill, the Clondalkin Lineout not at its best missing both Adams, DLSP came blasting out of the traps and to push ahead to 3-2,with just 5 mins on the clock, Clondalkin would have to dig deep.

Clondalkin went to that place in the deepest part the soul, reached in and dragged victory , like a phoenix out of the ashes, superb determination from Stephen Bracken to score the equalizing try scampering over the line and into the feet of the DLSP pack (a tip he picked up from Shane Dunne at training Friday night). A fantastic team effort led to the winning try, Clon rucked and mauled their way up to the DLSP line and resulting in s DLSP line out 5 yards from their line. Last play was called by the ref, the draw looked odds on but a brilliant rob by Lenaian who was then driven over the line by the pack resulted in the winning try to great scenes of joy by both the players and their wonderful support.

Man of the match performance by Jake, a fast improving second row, who made some brave tackles along with fellow second row Lenain.Ankers again was outstanding, managing to frustrate his opposite number so much that his mother took him of the pitch, Ross and Mikey both had a impact when then came on, and young Darren under 11s starlet showed why he is proving to be one for the future. With limited front row cover young lee held firm and put in his best display in a Clondalkin jersey.

The Duff Man had this to say after the game “I personally enjoyed the robbing skills of the young T. Duffy, who stole the ball from a DLSP player when he was over the tryline. Nice to see the north side bloodline going strong. All the kid showed the kind of skills and handling abilities that I could only ever dream about having as a rugby player. All credit to them for a wonderful victory”. Manager Barney Bracken was not available for comment at the time of publication but we will be hoping to have a full interview with him after the next game.

Any of the U12s who did not get brought to McDonalds as stated in last weeks article should use the comments section on this website to voice their issues. All complaints should begin with Tom Duffy said......

Added by Murts January 28, 2009 (2:01PM)

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